Status of texts of Abdu'l-Baha's talks, of letters from the Universal House of Justice versus its Secretariat, of letters from the Guardian, and of the books Baha'i World Faith and Foundations of World Unity.

Your email message of 2 October 1996 has been received by the Universal House
of Justice, and we have been asked to convey the following information in reply
to your questions regarding the authenticity of certain texts and documents.

In response to your first question regarding the authenticity of the words of
Abdu'l-Bahá as recorded in collections such as "Paris Talks", " Abdu'l-Bahá in
London", and "The Promulgation of Universal Peace", we enclose a memorandum
from the Research Department at the Bahá'í World Centre which specifically
addresses this issue.

Also enclosed is a memorandum prepared by the Research Department at the
request of the House of Justice on the subject of the authenticity of letters
written by the Secretariat, on his behalf, which we believe answers
the first part of your second question.

As to whether there is a distinction between correspondence from the World
Centre that has been signed "The Universal House of Justice" and that signed on
behalf of the Secretariat: In brief, the manner in which each of these letters
is prepared depends upon the contents of the letter. Drafts of letters which
contain newly formulated policies are consulted upon and approved during a
meeting of the House of Justice; correspondence dealing with previously
enunciated policies, or with matters of a routine nature, are prepared, as
delegated by the House of Justice, by its Secretariat and initialed by at
least the majority of the members of the House of Justice before being
dispatched. All letters written over the signature of the Department of the
Secretariat are authorized by the Universal House of Justice.

As to whether the materials prepared by the Research Department constitute the
authoritative word of the Universal House of Justice on a particular subject,
as raised in your third question, the House of Justice indicates that such
materials, though prepared at its direction, represent the views of that
Department. While such views are very useful as an aid to resolving
perplexities or gaining an enhanced understanding of the Bahá'í Teachings,
they should never be taken to be in the same category as the elucidations and
clarifications provided by the Universal House of Justice in the exercise of
its assigned functions. However, the House of Justice chooses to convey the
materials prepared by the Research Department to the friends because it wishes
them to be thoughtfully attended to and seriously considered.

It is hoped that the above comments and enclosed memoranda are helpful to
you.

Department of the Secretariat

Enclosures 2 (appended)

2. Authority of Letters written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi

M E M O R A N D U M

To: The Universal House of Justice
Date: 13 October 1994
From: Research Department

In an electronically mailed communication dated 22 September 1994, Mr. ...
raises a number of questions related to the above subject. His questions seem
mostly to arise from a statement made by Philip Hainsworth in the introduction
to the collection of letters published in "Unfolding Destiny: The Messages from
the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to the Bahá'í Community of the British Isles"
(London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981). In 1979, Mr. Hainsworth wrote:

Prior to April 1941 when Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum began to
write to the British Bahá'ís on behalf of the Guardian, he had had few helpers
and his secretaries had caused him much suffering. Their names are not
mentioned in this book and only their letters which carried the Guardian's
handwriting as a footnote or contained words which indicated they were writing
as instructed by him have been used. (p. xvii)

Rather than address Mr. ...'s questions point by point, we provide the
following information and comment which would seem to illuminate all of the
questions he has posed.

The Research Department has no information about why, specifically, the
editors of "Unfolding Destiny" decided that letters written by the Guardian's
secretaries on his behalf could not be included in the book unless they were
accompanied by notations in the Guardian's handwriting. Mr. ... may wish to
inquire further from Mr. Hainsworth or from the Publishing Trust in this
regard.

The following statement, referred to by Mr. ... and published in "Principles
of Bahá'í Administration" without a date, was added by Shoghi Effendi to a
letter written on his behalf to an individual on 7 December 1930. He wrote:

I wish to add and say that whatever letters are sent in my behalf
from Haifa are all read and approved by me before mailing.1 There is no
exception whatever to this rule.

This clear statement of Shoghi Effendi was written in response to the
following question:

Can you make a statement which would establish the authenticity of
your letters written by Ruhi or Soheil with your P.C. [sic] attached. There are
still some people who continue to feel that these letters are not authorized by
you and only express the personal opinions of the above writers.

The other extract quoted by Mr. ... also indicates that "the secretaries of
the Guardian convey his thoughts and instructions and these messages are
authoritative", albeit "certainly not the same" as words from his own pen:

Although the secretaries of the Guardian convey his thoughts and
instructions and these messages are authoritative, their words are in no sense
the same as his, their style certainly not the same, and their authority less,
for they use their own terms and not his exact words in conveying his messages.
(25 February 1951 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British
Isles)

A third pertinent extract is the following:

The infallibility of the Guardian is confined to matters which are
related strictly to the Cause and interpretation of the teachings; he is not an
infallible authority on other subjects, such as economics, science, etc. When
he feels that a certain thing is essential for the protection of the Cause,
even if it is something that affects a person personally, he must be obeyed,
but when he gives advice, such as that he gave you in a previous letter about
your future, it is not binding; you are free to follow it or not as you please.
(17 October 1944 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an
individual)

From the above extracts it seems fairly clear that letters written on behalf
of Shoghi Effendi "related strictly to the Cause and interpretation of the
teachings" constitute authoritative Bahá'í text, while any personal advice
which they may contain is not binding. The Guardian's statement that he
reviewed every letter written on his behalf without exception makes it clear
that the authority of the letters was independent of whatever personal
"sufferings" might have been caused by certain secretaries, and that there was
no "delegation" whatsoever of his interpretative authority, but merely a use of
secretarial assistance for his huge burden of correspondence.

3. Authenticity of "Bahá'í World Faith" and "Foundations of World Unity"

M E M O R A N D U M

To: The Universal House of Justice
Date: 28 March 1996
From: Research Department

Mr. ... in an email message dated 19 February 1996, asks for information about
the authenticity of the words of Abdu'l-Bahá published in the above-mentioned
books. Specifically, he wants to know about the section entitled "Knowledge and
Deeds", found on pages 382-383 of "Bahá'í World Faith". He also asks about the
status of the talks found in "The Promulgation of Universal Peace", and in
"Paris Talks" and " Abdu'l-Bahá in London". We provide the following
response.

The specific Tablet Mr. ... asks about, as noted in the Appendix of "Bahá'í
World Faith", was originally published in "Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas", vol. 3
(Chicago: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930 printing), p. 549. The Tablet has
been recently retranslated for inclusion in a forthcoming publication. We
provide below the revised translation:

Pleasing and acceptable as is a righteous person before God's Holy
Threshold, yet good works should proceed from knowledge. However matchless and
exquisite may be a blind man's handiwork, yet he himself is deprived of seeing
it. How sorely do certain animals labour on man's behalf, what loads they bear
for him, how greatly they contribute to his ease and comfort; and yet, because
they are
unwitting, they earn no recompense for all their pains. The clouds rain down
their bounty, nurturing the plants and flowers, and imparting verdure and
enchantment to the plain and prairie, the forest and the garden; but yet,
unconscious as they are of the results and fruit of their outpourings, they win
no praise or honour, nor earn the gratitude and approbation of any man. The
lamp imparteth light, but as it hath no consciousness of doing so, no one is
indebted to it. This apart, a man of righteous deeds and goodly conduct will
assuredly turn towards the Light, in whichever quarter he behold it. The point
is this, that faith compriseth both knowledge and the performance of good
works.

Regarding the status of Abdu'l-Bahá's talks published in "The Promulgation of
Universal Peace" and "Paris Talks", original Persian transcripts of some, but
not all, of the talks are available. We provide the following extract from a
letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice which indicates that
"in the future each talk will have to be identified and those which are
unauthenticated will have to be clearly distinguished from those which form a
part of Bahá'í Scripture":

The original of "Some Answered Questions" in Persian is preserved
in the Holy Land; its text was read in full and corrected by Abdu'l-Bahá
Himself. Unfortunately, Abdu'l-Bahá did not read and authenticate
all

transcripts of His other talks, some of which have been translated
into various languages and published. For many of His addresses included in
"The Promulgation of Universal Peace" and "Paris Talks", for example, no
original authenticated text has yet been found. However, the Guardian allowed
such compilations to continue to be used by the friends. In the future each
talk will have to be identified and those which are unauthenticated will have
to be clearly distinguished from those which form a part of Bahá'í Scripture.
This does not mean that the unauthenticated talks will have to cease to be used
-- merely that the degree of authenticity of every document will have to be
known and understood. (23 March 1987)

For " Abdu'l-Bahá in London", no original transcripts exist, and the following
letter was written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in this regard:

Regarding "`Abdu'l-Bahá in London": Nothing can be considered scripture for
which we do not have an original text. A verbatim record in Persian of His
talks would of course be more reliable than one in English, because He was not
always accurately interpreted. However such a book is of value, and certainly
has its place in our Literature.

(24 October 1947 to the National
Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, published in "Unfolding Destiny: The
Messages from the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to the Bahá'í Community of the
British Isles" (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 208.

The Research Department can not, at present, provide a detailed listing of
which extracts from "Foundations of World Unity" and "Bahá'í World Faith" are
authentic and which are not as, to date, such a listing has not been compiled.
Mr. ... can feel free to inquire about the status of specific extracts in which
he is interested. We note that the majority of the passages in "Foundations of
World Unity" are extracted from talks of Abdu'l-Bahá published in "The
Promulgation of Universal Peace".